Re: [libreplanet-discuss] No more Ubuntu Phones

[Mike Gerwitz]

On Fri, Apr 07, 2017 at 10:09:03 -0400, Steven Sullam wrote:
> At libreplanet, a vendor, technoethical.com, was selling a secure open
> source phone with replicant installed.

I wouldn't call it "secure"; I can't apply that definition to any mobile
device at the moment, but Replicant is at a further disadvantage because
it doesn't have a community keeping up with security updates.  While
Replicant 6 is in the works, the existing software is old and Android
vulnerabilities are frequent.

With that said, I still use it, because freedom to me is more
important.  So while I can generally trust the software running on my
phone not to do anything intentionally malicious, I have no choice but
to assume that the device is or can be compromised at any moment, and do
not store anything sensitive on it that I can avoid.  That's obviously
difficult with call history, texts, and photos.

I do not know enough about the operating system to make any
recommendations.  CopperheadOS is attempting to make a dent in the
problems, but I don't think they're fully free (proprietary drivers,
perhaps)?

tl;dr: I still recommend Replicant for freedom's sake, but I'd steer
clear of saying "secure".  More trustworthy, yes.

-- 
Mike Gerwitz
Free Software Hacker+Activist | GNU Maintainer & Volunteer
GPG: D6E9 B930 028A 6C38 F43B  2388 FEF6 3574 5E6F 6D05
https://mikegerwitz.com

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